ON2020 rallies industry to address networking concerns

Peter Winzer highlights one particular slide, part of the operator-findings presentation, to explain the purpose of the Optical Networks 2020 (ON2020) group.

Source: ON2020

The slide shows how router-blade client interfaces are scaling at 40% annually compared to the 20% growth rate of general single-wavelength interfaces (see chart).

Extrapolating the trend to 2024, router blades will support 20 terabits while client interfaces will only be at one terabit. Each blade will thus require 20 one-terabit Ethernet interfaces. “That is science fiction if you go off today’s technology,” says Winzer, director of optical transmission subsystems research at Nokia Bell Labs and a member of the ON2020 steering committee.

This is where ON2020 comes in, he says, to flag up such disparities and focus industry efforts so they are addressed.

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OFC 2015 digest: Part 1

A survey of some of the key developments at the OFC 2015 show held recently in Los Angeles.  

 

Part 1: Line-side component and module developments 

• Several vendors announced CFP2 analogue coherent optics   
• 5x7-inch coherent MSAs: from 40 Gig submarine and ultra-long haul to 400 Gig metro  
• Dual micro-ITLAs, dual modulators and dual ICRs as vendors prepare for 400 Gig
• WDM-PON demonstration from ADVA Optical Networking and Oclaro 
• More compact and modular ROADM building blocks  

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OIF prepares for virtual network services

The Optical Internetworking Forum has begun specification work for virtual network services (VNS) that will enable customers of telcos to define their own networks. VNS will enable a user to define a multi-layer network (layer-1 and layer-2, for now) more flexibly than existing schemes such as virtual private networks.

Vishnu Shukla"Here, we are talking about service, and a simple way to describe it [VNS] is network slicing," says OIF president, Vishnu Shukla. "With transport SDN [software-defined networking], such value-added services become available."

The OIF work will identify what carriers and system vendors must do to implement VNS. Shukla says the OIF already has experience working across multiple networking layers, and is undertaking transport SDN work. "VNS is a really valuable extension of the transport SDN work," says Shukla.

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Q&A with Jerry Rawls - Part 2

The concluding part of the interview with Finisar's executive chairman and company co-founder, Jerry Rawls, to mark the company's 25th anniversary.

Second and final part

Guys that are in the silicon photonics industry have a religion. It does not make any difference what the real economics are, what the real performance is, they talk with a religious fervour about what might be possible with silicon 

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OFC/NFOEC 2013 product round-up - Part 2

 Second and final part

• Custom add/drop integrated platform and a dual 1x20 WSS module
• Coherent receiver with integrated variable optical attenuator
• 100/200 Gigabit coherent CFP and 100 Gigabit CFP2 roadmaps     
• Mid-board parallel optics - from 150 to over 600 Gigabit.
• 10 Gigabit EPON triplexer 

Add/drop platform and wavelength-selective switches

Oclaro announced an add/drop routing platform for next-generation reconfigurable optical add/drop multiplexers (ROADMs). The platform, which supports colourless, directionless, contentionless (CDC) and flexible grid ROADMs, can be tailored to a system vendor's requirements and includes such functions as cross-connect switching, arrayed amplifiers and optical channel monitors.

"If we make the whole thing [add/drop platform], we can integrate in a much better way"

Per Hansen, Oclaro

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OFC/NFOEC 2013 industry reflections - Part 4

Gazettabyte asked industry figures for their views after attending the recent OFC/NFOEC show. 

"Spatial domain multiplexing has been a hot topic in R&D labs. However, at this year's OFC we found that incumbent and emerging carriers do not have a near-term need for this technology. Those working on spatial domain multiplexing development should adjust their efforts to align with end-users' needs"

T.J. Xia, Verizon

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OFC/NFOEC 2013 industry reflections - Part 3

Joe Berthold, vice president of network architecture, Ciena

The two topics that received the most attention, judging from session attendance and discussion in the hallways, were silicon photonics and software-defined networking (SDN). I predict that next year those who wish to capitalise on this popularity wave will be submitting papers on SDN-enabled silicon photonics.

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